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PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico — A plane carrying a load of auto parts crashed Sunday as it was trying to land in northern Mexico, killing a pilot from Middletown and severely injuring the co-pilot.

The plane crashed before dawn Sunday half a mile from the runway in Ramos Arizpe, 200 miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border, said Segismundo Doguin, the deputy civil defense chief for Coahuila state.

Lon McIntosh, who lived in Middletown with his wife and three children, was flying the plane when it crashed, according to the Journal's TV partner, Local Ch. 12.

Pastor Tim Hale of Harbor Christian Fellowship in Lebanon said in an interview with Ch. 12 that he knew McIntosh for the past 13 years and added the family learned of the crash Sunday.

McIntosh's oldest child was set to begin classes today, July 7, Hale told Ch. 12.

"Lon was an extremely faithful man. I do know this, he loved his God, he loved his wife and kids and anyone else who got in his way, so to speak," Hale said to Ch. 12.

The co-pilot, who has not been named, received second- and third-degree burns and was in critical condition at a hospital in the nearby city of Saltillo, Doguin said.

The DC-9-15 freighter was operated by USA Jet Airlines, based in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Company spokesman Donald McNeff said the crew members were U.S. citizens but declined to identify them by name. Mexican officials gave conflicting versions of the names.

The plane was carrying four tons of car parts it had picked up in Hamilton, Canada, for a General Motors plant in Ramos Arizpe.

"It's hard for the family because they only have a few details about what happened. The also can't make arrangements yetbecause they have to wait on the investigation," Hale said to Ch. 12.

The plane cleared customs in Shreveport, Louisiana, before heading to Ramos Arizpe, McNeff said.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said in a news release that it sent a team of investigators to Mexico to help determine what caused the crash.